When you hear the word erotic, what comes up for you?

For most of us it immediately conjures images of sex, the taboo, or something forbidden. But eroticism is so much bigger than that. At its core, the erotic is about aliveness. It is our capacity to feel present, connected, awake to beauty, pleasure, desire, creativity, and the experience of being fully in our bodies.

And it is something so many women lose touch with, especially in midlife, when stress, caregiving, hormonal shifts, and the relentless pace of everyday life leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves.

In this episode of Pleasure in the Pause, Gabriela welcomes back somatic psychotherapist, sex therapist, and author Carly Mountain for one of the most expansive and thought-provoking conversations this show has ever had. Carly's new book, Untamed Pleasure: Unleash Your True Erotic Nature, is an invitation to examine the invisible cages that have domesticated our pleasure, and to find the keys that live inside us to open them.

Carly Mountain is a somatic psychotherapist, sex therapist, sacred space holder and author of Descent & Rising: Women’s Stories & the Embodiment of the Inanna Myth and Untamed Pleasure: Unleash Your True Erotic Nature. She is passionate about facilitating people to reconnect with their inherent erotic aliveness, power and pleasure. She lives in Sheffield, England with her husband and two daughters.

Highlights from our discussion include:

• What eros and eroticism actually mean and why they are so much bigger than sex
• The cages — cultural and personal — that domesticate women's pleasure and how to start finding the keys
• Why midlife may actually be the most erotic chapter of a woman's life
• How communication is the skeleton key that opens every single cage
• The six bodies framework and why giving the emotional body its own wisdom is so important for women
• Creative transgression as a pathway back to erotic aliveness and what that can look like in practice

When pleasure has gone quiet in your life, Carly says it is not a sign that something is over. It is a compass pointing you toward where you need to go next. The cages are real. And so are the keys. They have been inside you all along.

If you're seeking to reclaim your pleasure and vitality, join Gabriella at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.pleasureinthepause.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for this enlightening journey into the heart of female pleasure and empowerment.

CONNECT WITH CARLY MOUNTAIN:

Website

Instagram

Ep 10: Carly Mountain

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Work with Gabriella!

Full episodes on YouTube.

The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

What happens when a healthcare professional goes through surgical menopause at 42 and is handed nothing but a message in her patient portal that says "you are post-menopausal"? No education. No discussion. No next steps. Just a diagnosis and silence.

That is exactly what happened to Julie Parana. And even as an occupational therapist who spent her days supporting patients through major health challenges, she found herself doing what so many women do — minimizing her symptoms, pushing through the pain, and waiting far too long to ask for help.

Julie Parana, MS, OTR/L, CWHS, is an Occupational Therapist, Certified Women’s Health Specialist, Menopause Coach, and founder of The Menopause OT - Menopause Coaching, a virtual practice empowering women to feel informed, supported, and in control through perimenopause and menopause. She works with women at every stage of this transition, including early, surgical, or treatment-induced changes

Together, we talk about:

✨ What adenomyosis is and why it goes undiagnosed for so long

✨ How surgical menopause differs from natural menopause

✨ The five lifestyle pillars that help women feel like themselves again

✨ Why affirmations feel awkward at first and why they work anyway

✨ How to start small, build slowly, and actually stick to midlife wellness habits

Julie spent years dismissing her own symptoms because she was too busy caring for everyone else. What she learned on the other side of that is something every woman in this community needs to hear: menopause does not have to mean years of needless suffering. There is so much available to you. But you have to prioritize yourself first. No one is coming to do that for you.

If you're seeking to reclaim your pleasure and vitality, join Gabriella at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.pleasureinthepause.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for this enlightening journey into the heart of female pleasure and empowerment.

CONNECT WITH JULIE PARANA:

Website

Instagram

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Work with Gabriella!

Full episodes on YouTube.

The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.

There is a version of Mother's Day we all know. The brunches, the bouquets, the Hallmark cards. And then there is the version so many women carry quietly underneath — the grief of a mother who is gone, of never becoming one, of a child lost, of the mother we needed and never had, and the grief of a mother who is still here but already somehow leaving.

This episode of Pleasure in the Pause makes space for that fuller truth. Host Gabriela Espinosa sits down with Rebecca Soffer, co-founder of Modern Loss and bestselling author of the Modern Loss Handbook, for one of the most tender and honest conversations this show has ever had. Whether Mother's Day brings up something heavy for you this year or you are simply learning to live alongside a loss that has no clear shape, this episode gives you permission to feel all of it.

Rebecca Soffer is cofounder of Modern Loss, a media platform and global movement offering creative, meaningful and resonant content and connection addressing the long arc of grief. She is also the author of the bestselling The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience and of Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome, and writes the Modern Loss Substack, one of the platform's top Health and Wellness publications.

Together, we talk about:
✨ The many forms of Mother’s Day grief that often go unseen
✨ Grieving a mother who is still alive but changing through dementia or illness
✨ How to support someone who may be hurting this Mother’s Day
✨ Finding connection, community, and meaning after loss
✨ Why grief and pleasure can coexist

Grief does not move in a straight line. It lives in us, shifts with us, and shows up in the most unexpected moments years after we thought we had made peace with it. What changes is not that it goes away. What changes is that we get better at knowing what we need when it arrives.

CONNECT WITH REBECCA SOFFER:

Website

Instagram

Substack

Modern Loss Handbook | Book

RESOURCES:

Ep 101: Dr Bralove

Article by Colin Campbell

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLA ESPINOSA:

Instagram

LinkedIn

Work with Gabriella!

Full episodes on YouTube.

The information shared on Pleasure in the Pause is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making any decisions about your health or treatment. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or Pleasure in the Pause.